'Arrested Development': Netflix to release all 10 episodes at once

Netflix plans to release all 10 episodes of the rebooted new season of Arrested Development at once.

The Bluth family’s latest adventures will begin streaming on the video service on the same day sometime next year, Netflix chief Ted Sarandos told reporters at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas.

Sarandos refused to confirm this plan a couple months ago after the service’s first series, Lilyhammer, dropped all its episodes at the same time. But industry sources say Netflix has always planned to use the full-season release strategy as a way to differentiate itself from traditional TV outlets.

AD creator Mitch Hurwitz also told reporters that although he had originally planned to build each episode of season 4 around a different character, the scripts now more closely resemble the old show. There was no mention of the AD movie, but Hurwitz added that he wouldn’t mind continuing the show on Netflix.

I know a lot of viewers will love the Netflix approach, but is it weird that I like the slow rollout of traditional TV? Sure, it’s fun to binge if the show is an intense cliff-hanging drama like The Walking Dead. But waiting for the next installment is a practice that has excited audiences since… oh, since at least the days of Charles Dickens, when readers would wait on the New York docks for ships to bring in the latest installments his stories. There’s something about having that ongoing relationship with a show – “Did you see Arrested Development last night? – that’s appealing.